The 2014 FIFA World Cup is scheduled to take place in South America. On March 7, 2003 FIFA announced that the tournament would be held in South America for the first time since Argentina hosted the 1978 FIFA World Cup, in line with its policy of rotating the right to host the World Cup amongst different confederations.

The official bidding procedure for CONMEBOL member associations was opened in December 2006, and the FIFA Executive Committee is scheduled to reach a decision on the host country in November 2007.

On June 3, 2003, the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) announced that Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia wanted to host the 2014 World Cup finals. By March 17, 2004, the CONMEBOL associations had voted unanimously to adopt Brazil as their sole candidate. Since then, Brazil formally declared its candidacy in December 2006 but Colombia did so as well a few days later.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has also confirmed that candidates from other continents would be considered should no South American bid meet FIFA's expected level of quality.Brazil

Brazil is the leading candidate and officially launched its bid to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup on December 13, 2006. Ricardo Teixeira, the president of the Brazilian Football Confederation, signed the letter of candidacy in Tokyo in the presence of CONMEBOL president Nicolas Leoz and CONMEBOL general secretary Eduardo De Luca.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter himself said on July 4, 2006 that the 2014 World Cup would probably be held in the country. On September 28, he met with the Brazilian President Lula and was quoted as saying he wants the country to prove its capabilities before making a decision. "But the ball is on Brazil's court now," he said.

On April 13, 2006, after visiting stadia in Rio de Janeiro, SÃ£o Paulo, and Porto Alegre, Blatter acknowledged that the country did not have any stadia for the Cup.

In September 2006, Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said: â€œWe donâ€™t have any stadium which is in a condition to host World Cup games. Weâ€™re going to have to build at least 12 new stadiums in this country.â€This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources.Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!)This article has been tagged since January 2007.

Based on city size and existing stadiums, these are the twelve locations that have the potential for renovation or reconstruction:

As of 2006, Venezuela has no stadium with the required minimum capacity of 40,000, but in the upcoming years, seven arenas with these sizes are to be built. This could make Venezuela a potential candidate.

Possible Bids From Other Continents

Although the continental rotation ensures that South America will host the 2014 World Cup, the following bids were mentioned:

Australia

South Australian premier Mike Rann put forward a proposal for Australia to host the 2014 event. He was backed by Prime Minister John Howard who said that Australia has proven it can host world sporting events. Football Federation Australia President, Frank Lowy who has also expressed considerable interest in the proposal and is amid negotiations to formally put forward Australia's hosting proposal. Australia is now part of the Asian Football Confederation which has not hosted since 2002, having in January 2006 left the Oceania Football Confederation which has never hosted. Despite Australia's large number of capable stadiums (because of Melbourne and Sydney's recent Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games) and its good performance at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, many believe Australia may have to wait until 2018 or later before it will stand a chance of hosting. Australia hosted the OFC Nations Cup twice (1998, and 2004), and four-way co-hosted once (1996).

Despite its population of just over 20 million, Australia is well catered for with respect to stadiums, many which have been recently re-developed and upgraded.

However, current FIFA policy mandates that only one city can have two stadiums hosting matches in a given World Cup. Considering the extreme concentration of Australia's major stadiums in its state capital cities, this policy may be a severe stumbling block to a potential Australian bid.

United States

The United States Soccer Federation (USSF) has expressed interest since the 2002 FIFA World Cup to offer a bid for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Given the support soccer now has in the U.S., USSF now Immediate Past President Dr. S. Robert Contiguglia is confident that the U.S. can put together a very strong bid. The United States hosted the 1994 FIFA World Cup, plus the 1999 and 2003 Women's World Cups (the latter on short notice, as original host China was forced to relinquish hosting duties due to the SARS outbreak in that country). The U.S. has also hosted the Gold Cup all eight times it has been contested, serving as sole host six times (1991, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2005) and cohost with Mexico twice (1993, 2003). The U.S. will be sole host again in 2007.

The U.S. has no shortage of stadiums that could host a World Cup with little or no renovation. For example, every stadium in the 32-team National Football League, literally dozens of college football stadiums, and many baseball stadiums have well over the 40,000 minimum seating required for hosting World Cup finals matches. Not all of these stadiums would necessarily be usable for a World Cup, however:

* Many of these stadiums, especially those used for college football, are designed around the American football field, which is about 20 metres narrower than the FIFA standard pitch. * As for baseball stadiums, many could fairly easily accommodate a football pitch, but the optimal seating configuration is radically different from that for any code of football. Many stadiums were built in the 1960s and early 1970s for professional teams in both the NFL and Major League Baseball (see especially cookie cutter stadium), but they eventually proved less than optimal for both games, and almost all of them have now been replaced by separate stadiums for the two sports. * Many U.S. stadiums have at least one large bank of bleacher seating instead of the individual chairback seats currently mandated by FIFA. However, this may not be as large a problem as it may seem at first. Converting a bleacher section to all-seater configuration is not overly technically demanding; Germany designed many of the standing terraces in its large stadiums to be convertible to all-seated configuration for international matches, including the 2006 FIFA World Cup. * An increasing number of stadiums in the U.S. have installed new-generation artificial surfaces such as FieldTurf, which FIFA does not allow for World Cup finals play (though allowed for all other international matches). However, the majority of large stadiums in the U.S. still have grass surfaces. Even for the stadiums with artificial turf, installing a grass pitch for World Cup play is a relatively simple matter, and was done at the Pontiac Silverdome for the 1994 FIFA World Cup.